M’s walking all over themselves

OAKLAND – The most astonishing fact about the Seattle pitching staff may be that, although the team ranks 12th among 14 teams in walks allowed, no Mariners pitcher is in the American League’s top-10 in that category.

What’s that mean? For one thing, it means that no one wild-armed pitcher is dragging down the Mariners staff – virtually everyone on the staff is missing the strike zone on a far-too-regular basis. And walks, as manager Mike Hargrove points out, tend to be lethal.

The strike zone had an elusive zip code again Thursday, when the Mariners lost their fifth consecutive game – this one a 6-2 decision to Oakland – and put nine Athletics batters on base via the base on balls.

Considering Hargrove and pitching coach Bryan Price met with their staff before the series began in Oakland to discuss the necessity of pitching ahead in the count, being swept wasn’t merely a reminder that Seattle is playing poorly.

It was a clear indication that Mariners pitchers aren’t adjusting.

“We tell them, ‘Don’t nibble, trust your ability in the strike zone,’ ” Price said, “and today Gil throws almost 100 pitches in his first four innings. It reaches the point you ask if guys are satisfied being mediocre.

“If so, this is the kind of season they’ll have.”

Couple too many free passes with a persistent lack of offense and you have Seattle’s season – and the Mariners are now 11 games less than .500 for just the second time in 2005.

The Mariners could be forgiven for screaming “Look out below!” but the truth is, there’s no one down there below them.

All those walks, coupled with a career-worst three errors by third baseman Adrian Beltre, helped Oakland bury the Mariners and finished Seattle’s six-game road trip with a 1-5 record.

Now the Mariners play Texas at home for three days – then return to the road for another six games.

Only two teams in the league have walked more batters than Seattle – Tampa Bay and Kansas City – and all three are last-place teams. That’s probably not a coincidence.

“Walk the first batter of an inning, it’s like telling the other team, ‘Go ahead, we’ll let you start with someone on first,’ ” Lou Piniella said in June. “You walk too many batters, you can’t beat a team that can hit, and in this league, most teams can hit.”

The Athletics had six hits Thursday, or two fewer than the Mariners. Walks and those three errors, however, more than made up the difference.

“This game was on me,” Beltre said after the second three-error game of his career. “I just screwed up the whole game.”

He had help.

Meche’s problems began early, when he walked the second batter he faced and eventually saw him score on Scott Hatteberg’s single, although a Beltre error made the run unearned.

Consecutive home runs by Raul Ibañez and Bret Boone in the second inning gave Seattle a 2-1 lead, but the Mariners wouldn’t score again – and the Athletics just kept coming.

A walk, a Beltre error and three Oakland hits in the fifth inning chased Meche and put the Athletics ahead, 3-2.

In 42/3 innings – the span of 14 outs – Meche threw 111 pitches.

“I’m just not being consistent, there’s not much more to say,” Meche said.

“The walks are creeping up on me, and when I throw that many pitches, I can’t get past the fifth or sixth inning.”

All but out of sight in the American League West now, Hargrove was asked if the way the Mariners were losing was hard to shake off.

“Do you stew? Yeah, you do,” Hargrove said. “You send the pitching coach out to scream at the pitcher. You bite your tongue sometimes – and sometimes you don’t. It eats everyone up, not just the manager.”